Weather-strip



Sept. 15, 1959 G. C. HAYMAN WEATHER-STRIP Filed Jan. 22, 1957 Unitedtates Patent I 2,903,758 WEATHER-STRIP George C. Hayman, Wheat Ridge,Colo.

Application January 22, 1957, Serial No. 635,314

7 Claims. (CI. 20-68) This invention relates to weather-strips and, moreparticularly, to improvements in weather-strips of the general typedisclosed and claimed in my United States Patent 2,615,214, issuedOctober 28, 1952.

In my patent, above identified, it has been found that a weather-stripmade in accordance with the construction shown therein possesses severaldisadvantages which substantially limit its usefulness for the pulposesintended. As disclosed in said patent, the jambs and lintel of a doorframe are provided with rabbets facing outwardly toward a door hung inthe door frame. A wooden sealing strip is positioned in the rabbetsalong the sides and top of the frame and urged into sealed contact withthe door when in closed position by a plurality of arcuate leaf springsplaced between said strip and the bottom of the rabbet. The springs,however, were positioned such that the ends were in contact with thebottom of the rabbet while the arcuate intermediate section bore againstthe rear face of the sealing strip. Thus, as the door forced;

the sealing strip toward the bottom of the rabbet, the springs becamemore tightly compressed frequently making it difficult to latch thedoor.

A further difficulty was that the strip had to be adjusted to projectvarying distances beyond the rabbet in order to seal tightly against thedoor; however, such adjustments required compressing some of the springsuntil the strip became quite hard to press deeper into the rabbet whileothers were loose and perhaps even out of contact with the strip.Obviously, this was a very unsatisfactory arrangement which renderedaccurate adjustment of the strips virtually impossible.

Also, the springs were attached to the bottom of the rabbet and entirelyindependent of the sealing strip. This required separate fasteners forthe strip and made the springs hard to insert or replace.

In addition, other spring members were considered necessary to hold thesealing strip spaced from the inside face of the rabbet. These springswere awkward to insert and oftentimes became dislodged to fall into thespace between the sealing strip and base of the rabbet.

It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention toprovide an improved weather-strip for doors.

A second object of the invention is to provide a springpressed woodensealing strip that can be adjusted within a rabbet independently of thesprings.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a wooden sealingstrip mounted in a rabbet in a door frame that includes a plurality ofsprings under substantially equal compression irrespective of theposition of the strip relative to the bottom of the rabbet.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a spring-pressedweather-strip having a noved connection between the strip and springs; aweather-strip that is simple to install and repair; and, a sealingmember for doors and the like which is inexpensive, airtight, rugged anddecorative in appearance.

Other objects will be in part apparent and in part pointed outspecifically hereinafter in connection with the description of thedrawing that follows, in which:

Figure l is a horizontal section taken through a wooden door frameshowing the weather-strip of the present invention mounted in placebetween the jambs and door;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary elevation of one of the jamb members as seenin the direction of arrow 2, Figure 1, portions thereof having beenbroken away to expose the weather-strip;

Figure 3 is an enlarged transverse section taken along line 33 of Figure4;

Figure 4 is a section taken along line 4-4 of Figure 3; and,

Figure 5 is a plan view of the spring to an enlarged scale.

Referring now to the drawing, reference numeral 10 indicates, in ageneral way, a wooden door frame of the type having jambs 12 and 14 anda lintel, not shown, of similar construction. The frame is fastened inthe conventional manner to door bucks 16 which define the door opening.Trim strips 18 of any common design provide a finished appearance forthe frame. A door 20 is hung within the door frame 10 on butts 22, asshown.

The jambs and lintel are each provided with a longitudinal door stop 24having a rabbet 26 opening toward the door when in closed position. Awooden sealing strip 28, having a width slightly less than the width ofthe rabbet and a thickness less than the depth of said rabbet, isinserted therein to form the improved weather-strip of the presentinvention. The outer or sealing face 30 of the sealing strip is providedwith a plurality of longitudinally spaced depressions 32 and openings 34registering therewith to receivescrews 36 which are screwed into thestop 24 at the base of the rabbet as shown mostv clearly in Figures 3and 4. Sealing face 30 and the adjoining face 38 of the sealing stripthat lies adjacent the outside of the rabbet are preferably overlayedwith a covering 40 of relatively soft material such as felt, cloth,-

longitudinal movement relative thereto by the groove.

The spring is arranged on each screw such that the ends 48 of the springlie in contact with the rear or inside face 50 of the sealing strip andforce it outward against the head of the screw. 7

Now, an examination of Figures 2, 3 and 4 will show that the sealingstrip 28 can be adjusted relative to the rabbet by merely adjusting thedepth of insertion of screws 36 withinthe stop 24; however, suchadjustment is carried out entirely independent of the spring 44 whichremains under constant compression except when the door is closed.Thus,,the distance that the sealing face 30 of the sealing stripprojects beyond the rabbet can be adjusted to conform with anyirregularities in the mating surfaces of the door without affecting thecompression in the springs. For example, the lower screw in Figure 2 isshown adjusted to extend the sealing strip well beyond the rabbet;whereas, the upper screw has been threaded further into the stop thuspulling the strip deep into the rabbet without disturbing thecompression of either spring which remains substantially the same. Thisadjustment of the sealing strip relative to the rabbet at each screwenables said strip to be positioned in relation to the door such thatall the springs will be compressed substantially the same amount whenthe door is closed. When the strip is pressed into the rabbet by thedoor, the spring will, of course, compress against the shoulder 52 onthe screw shank adjacent the groove 42 rather than the bottom of therabbet. The sealing strip is also preferably spaced slightly from thejamb, as shown in Figure 3, to prevent said strip from binding orsqueaking as it works in and out of the rabbet.

With reference now to Figure 5, it will be seen that the slot 46 in thespring extends longitudinally from one end to approximately the centerand becomes slightly wider toward the center. The width of the slot nearthe center is less than the diameter of the screw shank but greater thanthe diameter of said shank within the groove. Toward the end of thespring, however, the slot narrows until it is less than the diameter ofthe screw shank within the groove which means the slot must be forcedopen slightly to place the spring on the screw. When the screw isthreaded into the stop it bears against the sides of the slot in thespring and tends to walk the spring off the shank. With the slotnarrowed, however, the screw shank will become wedged in the slot and,therefore, cannot be removed therefrom by merely turning the screw.

The weather-strip thus formed extends the length of both jambs andacross the lintel to provide a weathertight seal on three edges of thedoor. The sealing strip, covering, screws and springs may be rapidly andeasily removed from the rabbet as a unit for repair or replacement.Adjustment of the sealing strip relative to the door requires only thatthe screws be turned to change the degree at which said strip extendsbeyond the rabbet. Proper adjustment of the sealing strip will insurethat all the springs will be compressed equally when the door is closedand latched.

Having thus described the several useful and novel features of theweather-strip of the present invention it will be seen that the manyuseful objects for which it was designed have been achieved. Although Ihave illustrated but one specific form of the invention in theaccompanying drawing, I realize that certain changes and modificationsmay be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe true scope thereof; hence, it is my intention that the measure ofprotection afforded hereby shall be limited only in so far as saidlimitations are expressly set forth in the appended claims which follow.

What is claimed is:

1. In a door frame having a door hung therein for hinged movement, aweather-strip comprising: a door stop rib attached within the frame inposition to provide an abutment for the door when closed, said ribincluding a rabbet opening toward the door; a plurality of screwfasteners attached to the door stop rib at spaced points and arranged toproject outwardly toward the door at approximately right angles to thebottom of the rabbet, said fasteners including a head on the outer endthereof and a shank provided with an annular groove spaced from thebottom of the rabbet; a sealing strip sized to fit within the rabbet andmounted on the shank of the screw fasteners for inward and outwardmovement relative to the rabbet, screw fasteners and door; and, anarcuate leaf spring means centrally attached to the shank of the screwfasteners within the annular groove, the

center of said spring means acting against the shank of the screwfastener and the ends of said arcuate leaf spring normally urging thesealing strip against the head thereof, the door when closed contactingthe sealing strip and forming a weather-tight seal therewith by forcingsaid strip toward the bottom of the rabbet thereby compressing thespring means against the shank of the screw fastener.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the sealing strip isprovided with a compressible fabric covering on the door receiving facethereof.

3. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the spring means isprovided with a slot therein of sufiicient size to receive the shank ofthe screw fastener within the annular groove, said spring beingcentrally mounted on the shank such that the ends of said spring bearagainst the inside of the sealing strip.

4. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the outside face of thesealing strip is provided with depressions sized to receive the head ofthe screw fastener in recessed relation.

5. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the sealing strip isspaced from at least one side of the rabbet.

6. A device in accordance with claim 3 in which the slot in the springtapers from the shank-receiving section thereof to a point at which thewidth of said slot is less than the diameter of said shank within theannular groove.

7. In a door frame having a door hung therein for hinged movement, aweather-strip comprising: a door stop rib attached within the frame inposition to provide an abutment for the door when closed, said rib andframe cooperating to form a rabbet therebetween opening toward the door;a plurality of screw fasteners attached to the door stop rib at spacedpoints and arranged to project outwardly toward the door atapproximately right angles to the bottom of the rabbet, said fastenersincluding a head on the outer end thereof and a shank provided with anannular groove spaced from the bottom of the rabbet; a sealing stripsized to fit within the rabbet and mounted on the shank of the screwfasteners for inward and outward movement relative to the rabbet, screwfastener and door; and, an arcuate leaf spring having a slot thereincentrally mounted on the shank of each screw fastener within the annulargroove, the ends of said spring contacting the inside face of thesealing strip and acting against the shank of the screw fastener to urgesaid sealing strip outward into the contact with the head of said screwfastener, the door in closed position contacting the sealing strip toform a weather-tight seal therewith by urging said strip inwardlythereby compressing the leaf springs between the inside face of saidstrip and the shank of the screw fastener.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS729,207 Mulligan May 26, 1903 1,948,017 Wuebling Feb. 20, 1934 2,615,214Hayman Oct. 28, 1952 2,647,288 Richardson Aug. 4, 1953 2,735,145 KraeskyFeb. 21, 1956

